Get used to it, Bears fans. The narrative surrounding Chicago in the run-up to the 2021 NFL draft will focus on the base defender and, for good reason.
The expected departure of Mitch Trubisky and the failed transaction for Nick Foles has QB as the team’s biggest need and, with a few worthy passers-by in the first round of this year’s class, it makes sense to connect the Bears to at least one of them.
Here’s the problem: Chicago picks 20th overall, which usually means they’ll be out of the strike zone for any of this year’s top names. Or will they?
According to the latest fake project of 2021 from The Draft Network, the bears are making an aggressive transaction with the number 8 in general to acquire Trey Lance from the state of North Dakota.
The author of the simulator, Ben Solak, has GM Ryan Pace parting ways with the 20th choice this year and a first and third round in 2022 to change places with Panthers for Lance, the instrument, but the cruel FCS signal caller.
You can’t win without a defender, and the bears currently don’t. So Pace takes out another mortgage against their next election, this time in the first round to take on their defender: Trey Lance. Lance is an insecure bet, as he only has a year of starting experience and has been at FCS level – but don’t confuse that with being a “brute”. Lance makes mature decisions and is extremely risk averse to a young player – 0 interceptions don’t happen by chance! It will be good for the Bears, although the state of their room OL and WR are both ready for deliberation.
This is a leap of faith with Lance, who has only one season of beginner experience at a lower level of college ball. Sure, Lance has all the necessary traits from a first-round pick, but he’s also screaming about the kind of prospect a general manager will be fired in a year or two.
The buyer takes care of Lance and, given the hot seat on which both Pace and coach Matt Nagy are, I would imagine that they will look elsewhere for their defensive solution.
In round 2, Solak sends teammate Bears Lance to offensive attack Dillon Radunz. This is a selection that would qualify as a home race on my scale, given that I think Radunz has the limit ability in the first round. The only thing preventing him from receiving a secure mark in the first round is the level of competition he faced in North Dakota.
Radunz will participate in the 2021 Senior Bowl, where he will have the opportunity to present his set of skills against the top competition. If he stays in Mobile, Alabama, he will pick up his stock in that first-round range.
The Bears need help along the offensive line and can especially use an attack upgrade, where both the best days of Charles Leno Jr. and those of Bobby Massie can be behind them.
He joins Radunz, who would be an immediate improvement in athletics in this position and would likely win a starting role early in his career in the Bears, should this choice be made.